As the pioneer of the ‘No Jerks Allowed’ movement, we at Connectria recently commissioned an independent survey to help put some hard numbers around what we’ve known all along to be true: bullying doesn’t stop in school. Jerky behavior and attitudes continue into the workplace, negatively impacting productivity, quality of work and employee morale. With 57 percent of companies lacking a zero-tolerance “office bully” policy – and more than half (55 percent) of workers admitting to having been bullied – it’s clear bullying and “jerk-like” behavior extend far beyond adolescence.

These findings reveal a clear need for every company – both big and small – to address jerky behavior and attitudes in the workplace. With this in mind, today, we’re also proud to announce the launch of a website dedicated to our No Jerks Allowed movement: www.nojerksallowed.com. With videos, blog posts, content and anecdotes, the site will serve as a resource for companies and leaders looking to join the movement and share their own stories.

A snapshot of the research findings (based on a study of 250 U.S. IT professionals):

The “Jerk” Landscape

83 percent of IT professionals claim to have worked with a jerk within the last five years. These jerky personalities top the list:

The “Know-it-all”: Nearly 30 percent say this is the most common jerk “personality” they have come in contact with

The “Bully”: 26 percent

The “Complainer”: 21 percent

The “Brownnoser”: 16 percent

The “Oﬃce Gossip”: 4 percent

According to the findings, some professionals don’t have to look very far – 1 out of 5 admit to having been an office jerk themselves. Although, when looking into their own behavior, the top personalities reported are “Know-it-all” (48 percent) and “Complainer” (34 percent).

The Impact of Working with Jerks

Findings reveal that a department is impacted in the following ways:

Low employee morale: 59 percent

Employees take on a “lone wolf” mentality and prefer to work alone: 42 percent

Decreased product quality: 40 percent

Inability to get work done: 34 percent

Finding Job Satisfaction

For companies looking to cultivate a satisfied workforce, the research reveals that providing an environment that supports positive relationships among colleagues leads to the highest job satisfaction (43 percent) followed by office locations (27 percent), the culture (15 percent) and investment in employees (11 percent).

Clearly, it’s critical that organizations consider implementing a No Jerks Allowed policy in order to maintain and healthy, happy, and productive environment at work. In a perfect world, practicing jerk-free behavior during the day would translate to ingrained behaviors leading to less jerky behavior outside of work too. So many of the world’s problems start with people not being kind or considerate to each other. Let’s stop the cycle, starting with the workplace!

For the full list of survey findings, check out our infographic. And click here to join our movement today.